Activision Bucks Trend as China Looms

In a phrase that we think probably means, "people are buying our games", Activision CEO, Bobby Kotick states this week, "Global consumer response to the Call of Duty and Guitar Hero franchises and Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft remains strong despite the challenging economic environment."

Yes, we're fairly certain that 'consumer response' probably means 'buying'. Unless, of course, it simply means that Activision is happy that people are walking into shops and pointing at the games, and smiling. But Bobby tries to clarify, "We exceeded our quarterly financial goals as the video game market continues to grow and our franchises continue to perform."

The company had announced that it expected to make $860 million for the quarter.

Kotick then mentions "...a new intellectual property" in the same sentence as talking about Prototype.

Also in Activision/Blizzard news is the fact that World of Warcraft is now confirmed for the potentially enormous Chinese market via a deal with NetEase. The two companies have already teamed up with Warcraft III, StarCraft II and Battle.net.

Sadly, Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment couldn't stop himself from replacing the words "in future" as he explained that, "This new agreement with NetEase will support that goal for years to come, and we look forward to collaborating with them on a smooth transition for World of Warcraft moving forward."

The deal sets up Activision/Blizzard to reap rich revenues with little actual investment... good business all round.


^{Sources:
Activision
ActiBlizz}